WotC's growing pattern of broken promises

[The Stray]

I saw this thread on Twitter, and it made me think. What the heck is going on here?






WotC also recently broke the spirit of the Reserved List in Magic: The Gathering with their predatory 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition fiasco.

Does anyone have any speculation on why WotC's gone so unhinged?

 

[Horwath]

Does anyone have any speculation on why WotC's gone so unhinged?

Ferengi 10th rule of acquisition:
Greed is eternal.

 

[aco175]

It is like when I worked for the local shopping malls- Every quarter needs to be the best quarter.

 

[rcade]

Does anyone have any speculation on why WotC's gone so unhinged?

Probably for the same reason that Disney stopped paying royalties to authors who wrote tie-in novels for Star Wars and its other franchises -- because the company is so big it thinks it can get away with it.

Column: Disney allegedly has cheated hundreds of writers out of pay for Star Wars and other properties

Writers and artists who created novelizations of some of Disney's most important franchises say the entertainment giant has stiffed them of royalties.

www.latimes.com

 

[Remathilis]

WotC also recently broke the spirit of the Reserved List in Magic: The Gathering with their predatory 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition fiasco.

If there was ever a promise I wanted WotC to break, it's the naughty word reserve list. Playing Magic shouldn't require a mortgage. The anniversary edition was what happens when you tiptoe around fan reactions rather than say "this is something that has outlived it's usefulness and it's now a detriment to the game."

The anniversary edition should have been a gold-backed draft set with chase black borders in it for standard price. But WotC doesn't want to make Rudy angry, so they picked the worst of all worlds.

Death to the reserve list. Cards are to be played, not investment chips.

 

[Scribe]

If there was ever a promise I wanted WotC to break, it's the naughty word reserve list. Playing Magic shouldn't require a mortgage. The anniversary edition was what happens when you tiptoe around fan reactions rather than say "this is something that has outlived it's usefulness and it's now a detriment to the game."

The anniversary edition should have been a gold-backed draft set with chase black borders in it for standard price. But WotC doesn't want to make Rudy angry, so they picked the worst of all worlds.

Death to the reserve list. Cards are to be played, not investment chips.

Nobody needs reserved list cards. If you are open to essentially proxy cards, your printer solves the issue.

 

[Alzrius]

Shannon has long been an excellent tabletop RPG historian, and his insight here is no less penetrating. After so many recent instances of WotC breaking their promises, they cannot be trusted to perform any sort of reasoned oversight of others.

 

[Remathilis]

Nobody needs reserved list cards. If you are open to essentially proxy cards, your printer solves the issue.

I guess you are fine with Legacy dieing as a format? Or "no proxy" commander?

That's akin to removing all TSR-era material from sale and saying "if your open to piracy, you printer solves the issue."

 

[Scribe]

I guess you are fine with Legacy dieing as a format? Or "no proxy" commander?

That's akin to removing all TSR-era material from sale and saying "if your open to piracy, you printer solves the issue."

Unless you are playing in Legacy tournaments, I struggle to see how it's an issue.

 

[jeffh]

WotC also recently broke the spirit of the Reserved List in Magic: The Gathering with their predatory 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition fiasco.

That's a completely different thing in that Reserved List is a rule the overwhelming majority of their audience doesn't want them to honour. This wasn't the way to do it but frankly, that's one promise they should tear up.

Unfortunately there seems to be some (actual or perceived) legal issue forcing them to keep that in play despite the wishes of most of their customers and some within the company itself. Notably, this was the case long before the current batch of ex-Microsoft people and such were in charge - it's not a new issue by any means. MaRo, for example, has made it clear the Reserved List isn't going anywhere, all but said outright that's against his wishes, and the most information-rich response he's given to the question of why was something like "I can't tell you, and I can't tell you why I can't tell you". Tell me there's lawyers involved, without telling me there's lawyers involved...